LinkedIn Leveraged to Lend New Life to Old Scam

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Scammers are using LinkedIn to give their garden-variety cons an
added air of legitimacy as they attempt to part gullible Internet
users from their cash.

The scam has the sucker pay a large fee upfront, with the promise
that he'll obtain a much larger sum of money later. Formerly
called the Spanish Prisoner con, it's a method scammers have been
using for centuries and which most
recently became famous as the
often amusing "Nigerian prince" or "419" email ruse.

Instead of via email, this latest version of the scam appears as
a LinkedIn message from a Malaysian bank manager named Aziz
Mohammad, reported Bitdefender's HotforSecurity blog.

"I am writing this particular message to you to ascertain whether
you could be able to handle this matter effectively in your area
or any place of your choice," the stiff-sounding, ungrammatical
come-on reads. "Be inform that I wish to enter into business
relationship with you which must be under your complete control
and management."

The scammer then provides an email contact address — but it's a
Yahoo address, not one from the bank Aziz Mohammed claims to work
for.

Although the business opportunity is fake, the LinkedIn profile
that it's sent from is based on a real LinkedIn page owned by a
real Aziz Mohammad who really does work for Standard Chartered
Bank in Malaysia. (LinkedIn has taken down the fake profile.)

Scammers took many of the real Aziz Mohammed's details to create
dummy LinkedIn and
Facebook accounts. On Facebook, however, the fake Aziz
Mohammad uses as his avatar a press photo of former U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Many Internet users are accustomed to filtering out scams and
junk mail in their normal email inboxes. On a professional
networking site like LinkedIn, people might not be as guarded.

But, as is the case anywhere on the Internet, a LinkedIn contact
isn't necessarily what it seems to be.

As Bitdefender's Bogdan Botezatu points out, LinkedIn does not
verify that individuals are who they say or work where they claim
to. Unless you know the individual personally, any claims made on
LinkedIn have to be taken on faith. Users are advised to take all
communications from strangers with a grain of salt.

If a seemingly legitimate opportunity does come your way, call
the person contacting you, or meet him face to face. Don't wire
money through services such as MoneyGram or Western Union; use a
check or a
credit card, which are much more secure and partially
insured.

To protect themselves, Internet users in general should be wary
of any requests or business repositions from strangers,
especially if they involve transferring large sums of money and
sound too good to be true.